What does God say to us as His created beings? “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’” (Matthew 22:37-40). In other words, everything that God requires of us can be condensed into two rules – loving God with all our hearts and loving our neighbours the way we love ourselves.
What does God say about us as His created beings? “The Lord looks down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.” (Psalm 14:2-3). To realize what God demands concerning loving Him with all of our being, and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves – and then to recognize what God sees as He looks upon us as not seeking Him, but turning aside from Him, and not doing any good at all – is quite a conundrum!! That problem of our inability to obey God’s commands is called sin. Because of Adam’s sin in the Garden, we have all been pronounced guilty upon our conception. “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5)
We were all born with a sinful nature that is opposed to God and to Godliness and as a result, the Bible identifies us all as sinners. Thankfully, before the world was created, God devised a plan of redemption whereby we would be redeemed from sin and granted an acquittal from all sin, and given the gift of eternal life. Because of sin in our world, when we die, we will come face-to-face with God, who will either reward us for believing in His Son, who has provided our redemption, or punish us for our unbelief. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
Sin is the number one issue in a person’s life! Sin was the issue our Lord always focused on in order to convict us of our personal guilt. Here is how Jesus began His public ministry of saving souls: “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the Gospel.” “. . .For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Mark 1:15 – Matthew 9:13).
May you realize that God sees you as a lost sinner and that He is calling you to repent and trust in His Son!
“I TELL YOU, NO, BUT UNLESS YOU REPENT, YOU WILL ALL LIKEWISE PERISH.” LUKE 13:3
SO SAYS OUR GREAT CREATOR!!!
